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Welcome

I started this blog in 2013 to share my reflections on reading, writing and psychology, along with my journey to become a published novelist.​  I soon graduated to about twenty book reviews a month and a weekly 99-word story. Ten years later, I've transferred my writing / publication updates to my new website but will continue here with occasional reviews and flash fiction pieces, and maybe the odd personal post.

ANNE GOODWIN'S WRITING NEWS

The promised land: The Betrayers by David Bezmozgis

5/9/2015

10 Comments

 
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Acclaimed Israeli politician, Baruch Kotler has betrayed his wife and children in (a seemingly chaste) affair with a young woman. Never one to compromise, when he is threatened with exposure if he continues his stand against the government’s decision to forcibly withdraw Jewish settlers from the occupied territories, he flees the country and ensuing scandal along with his lover, Leora. Russian by birth, Kotler’s nostalgia for an idyllic childhood holiday, takes them to the Black Sea resort of Yalta in the Crimea. Against all odds, they pitch up at the home of Chiam Tankilevich, Kotler’s former friend who betrayed him to the KGB and thirteen years in the gulag forty years before.

This is a novel about migration and morality, about pain and principle against the backdrop of contemporary politics of both Israel and the Crimea (which controversially transferred from Ukrainian to Russian territory shortly before publication last year). Kotler’s intransigence, deemed heroic when he migrated to Israel as a Zionist refusenik, becomes increasingly to resemble an indulgence. Despite his years of suffering, Kotler can’t help feeling some sympathy for Tankilevich’s rationalisations, especially now that (the scandal of his affair notwithstanding) he seems to have come off better, as a wealthy inhabitant of a prosperous country while his former betrayer is only just surviving on grudging handouts from the synagogue a three-hour trolley bus ride away and worn down by the anti-Semitism of his compatriots. Yet more painful is the unanticipated effect his stance has on his son, a Hasidic Jew currently on military service, ordered to participate in the evictions.

Reading this novel helped me better understand the politics of the Crimea (although not enough to articulate that understanding here), the Zionist position on the occupied territories, also explored, more humorously, in The Hilltop (although not enough to prevent me sympathising with the Palestinians) and the culture of expatriate Russian Jews I encountered earlier in A Replacement Life. It also raises the unanswerable question of whether the experience of cruelty is somehow cancelled out if it results in a positive outcome (as Kotler’s years in the gulag have been rewarded with a seat in government and won him the heart of an attractive young woman). A novel of ideas with sufficient story not to get bogged down in philosophising, The Betrayers is published by Viking Penguin who provided my review copy.

While migration is not integral to my own heritage, I seem to be drawn to novels on this theme (for example The Spicebox Letters, Academy Street, The Book of Strange New Things, A Place Called Winter). I imagine there’s a connection in the sense of otherness felt by many writers and, I suppose anyone growing up with an insecure attachment base. So the latest call to Rough Writers for 99-word stories on migration wasn’t too difficult to answer. Tangential to the current European crisis, Charli asks us to focus on the interaction between cultures, how migrants adapt to the mores of their hosts and vice versa. My flash is much lighter than my last one, a tribute to the vibrant multicultural city featured in The Zoo and partly inspired by my once feeble attempts to entertain a visitor from Nepal:

Swelling with pride, I presented my proposals. This was how I’d prove myself to those who considered me too young for the job. I’d produced a cracking itinerary for our overseas guests: a day at the gymkhana with an evening at the Mela on the Golden Mile. All I needed was the committee’s go-ahead to book a table at Kayal’s.

The chairman coughed. “It’s supposed to showcase Leicester’s best.”

“And?”

“And our English culture.”

“What’s more English than chicken tikka masala?”

“But our visitors are from India, remember. Don’t you think they’d prefer something they can’t get at home?”

I hope this works for readers from outside Britain. (Note, just as Jamie Mollart did in his novel, I’ve used poetic licence in featuring a real restaurant – I always go for the vegetarian option but I don’t think they serve chicken tikka masala at Kayal’s.)

Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
10 Comments
Charli Mills
5/9/2015 11:11:38 pm

Your flash made me laugh! Oh, yes -- it translates outside Britain. If you were to visit me, I'd probably be excited to take you to Jalapenos, a Mexican restaurant or show you the English castle built on Schweitzer Mountain, an Alpine-style ski resort.

Your array of books on this topic show that no matter how closed we think our own borders are, the world is on the move. An interesting book review that handles many of the current troubles based on older ones.

Reply
Annecdotist
7/9/2015 04:40:58 pm

Glad I made you laugh, Charli. I'd love to see that English castle on the Alpine ski resort – sounds fabulous eclectic mix!

Reply
Charli Mills
7/9/2015 09:07:57 pm

I went to find a link and discovered that we have TWO castles in the area! One on the ski slopes: http://www.vrbo.com/673252 and one on the lake: http://www.vrbo.com/476079. evidently, we like our skiing German, our stone walls English and our food Mexican. Welcome to America! Well, one corner of it!

Norah Colvin link
6/9/2015 08:27:28 am

Yes, your flash translates to Australia too. It is wonderful to have access to foods from around the world more or less on our doorsteps, though I have heard that some of the dishes offered here are not traditional and not offered at "home". They are designed for the Western palate.
Sometimes our tastes in books merge and at other times they are wide apart. While I could do with the education, I think I would find this one heavy going.
Actually your comments remind me of a previous discussion about people expecting to find truth in novels and questioning the authority of non-fiction authors. I wonder how authentically the politics of Crimea etc are represented.
Thanks for sharing your insights.

Reply
Annecdotist
7/9/2015 04:47:03 pm

That reminds me, Norah, that chicken tikka masala is actually Scottish as that's where it was invented, but so typical of the English to appropriate it. I don't think you see it so much now but there used to be a very macho attitude to curry eating in Britain – people competing to eat the hottest curries they can, which I don't think you see in India.
Yeah, you don't go for some of my heavier reads but I always appreciate your readings of my reviews. I think this novel came out at a tricky time for Crimean politics – not that I managed to get my head round it but must have been a strange experience for the author to see it changing hands just before publication.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
8/9/2015 12:30:06 pm

Your comment re the hottest curries reminds me of an occasion when my family went to an Indian restaurant. My brother and I don't like hot and ordered the mildest dish on the menu, requesting that it be very mild. Neither of us could eat it. It was too hot! Dad, on the other hand, ordered from the "hot" selection and kept asking for them to add more hot. He just couldn't get it hot enough. Sad to say, a number of stops had to be made on the way home as his system rejected the hot! That incident made me reluctant to try Indian food again for a long time, but I have since found that some of their food is deliciously spicy rather than hot and I can enjoy it, though it still wouldn't be a first choice. Thanks for reminding me of this amusing (in retrospect) occasion! :)

sarah link
6/9/2015 10:42:54 pm

I'm going to be whiny here and (again) wish you had a "like" button for when I've read and can't comment (like from my phone). But enough of that. I like Charli's statement that " the world is on the move". Truth. This is not a new theme/topic/problem. Love the flash. :-D

Reply
Annecdotist
7/9/2015 04:48:54 pm

You are welcome to whine while I apologise for what is out of my control (but I do think the site looks good on a phone). And yes, when hasn't the world been on the move!

Reply
Pat Cummings link
7/9/2015 12:47:46 am

We were so proud when people started talking about "California Cuisine" as if it were a real thing, instead of Thai Pizza, Chimichurris, and Asian/Mexican fusion served on small plates.

Nothing is so revealing of a migratory culture than the easy availability and acceptance of "foreign" food!

Reply
Annecdotist
7/9/2015 04:51:27 pm

Thanks,Pat. Thai pizza sounds intriguing! I really like the way we can draw on different cuisines in a meal, although I have to be very careful about this with one of my friends from an Italian background who is very strict about what can be done with pasta!

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